A known type of fiber optic connector element for terminating an optical fiber cable comprises a generally cylindrical connector body having a passage extending axially through the body. The passage has a forward portion which has an inner diameter slightly greater than the outer diameter of an optical fiber and a rearward portion which has an inner diameter slightly greater than the outer diameter of a protective jacket or buffer surrounding the optical fiber. The connector body generally carries a screw or bayonet fitting. U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,685 issued Sept. 17, 1985 in the name of Jerry M. Anderson describes one example of this type of fiber optic connector element.
A fiber optic connector element of the type described above is mounted to a fiber optic cable by cutting the cable to a desired length, stripping back an end portion of the protective jacket or buffer to expose an end portion of an optical fiber protruding from the jacket or buffer, applying an adhesive to the protruding fiber, inserting the protruding fiber and an end portion of the remaining jacket or buffer into the rearward portion of the connector body passage and moving it forward until the protruding fiber extends through the forward portion of the passage to emerge from a forward end of the connector body, and securing a rearward portion of the connector body to the jacket or buffer in the passage, generally by crimping the rearward portion of the connector body onto the jacket or buffer. The adhesive applied to the fiber secures the fiber within the forward end of the passage.
Once the fiber and jacket are secured within the connector body, the fiber end emerging from the forward end of the connector body is trimmed flush with the forward end of the connector body, and carefully polished to an optical finish. The connector body may then be screw or bayonet mounted to another connector part to urge the forward end of the connector body into an alignment element (e.g. an alignment sleeve) for alignment of the fiber end with another similarly mounted fiber end.
Unfortunately, it is difficult and time consuming to polish the fiber end to an optical finish under field conditions where contaminants abound. Of course, the fiber cables could be terminated with the connector elements and the exposed fiber ends could be trimmed and polished in a factory under more controlled conditions, but this would require that the optical fiber cables be cut to the desired lengths before leaving the factory. The desired cable lengths are not generally known until the cables are at least partially installed, so factory termination of the cables is not generally feasible.